


Lattice

by inlovewithnight



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz and His Humans
Genre: Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-26
Updated: 2013-01-26
Packaged: 2017-11-27 00:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithnight/pseuds/inlovewithnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erin has a routine for mornings when Pete is in New York.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lattice

Erin has a routine for the mornings after Pete stays over at Gabe's apartment. She gets up at her usual time, walks the dogs, exercises and showers, then takes a cab to the bakery two blocks from Gabe's building. She picks up muffins, bagels, and a tall thermos of a fancy blend of tea, then walks the rest of the way and lets herself in.

Usually she arrives at just a bit after ten, which means Gabe is still asleep and Pete is lying on the couch, tapping on his tablet or frowning at the TV. He always smiles when he sees her and hurries over to help her with the food. They air-kiss hello, because they're _fashionistas_ , and he sets the bakery box out on the table while she gets mugs from the kitchen and pours them each some tea.

She remembers when Gabe first sat her down to explain how Pete fit into his life. She knows plenty of people with _alternative lifestyles_ , that poisonous old phrase; _unconventional relationships_ , even worse, maybe. She knew about polyamory before he said the word. But it was still different to think of it in relation to herself, to imagine saying, _Oh, my boyfriend's boyfriend told me about that._ She thought that she would never not stumble over the phrase.

She doesn't stumble now, but then she doesn't say that phrase, either; the language that winds around them grew up in its own way as their relationships did. _Oh_ , she says sometimes at shows. _My partner's partner was a huge fan of that before it even left Japan. Oh, yes, he's wonderful, he's adorable, I love when he visits New York. And_ his _partner, she's a delight, I hope I'll talk her into walking for me one of these days._

"You want me to wake him up?" Pete asks, tilting his head back to get the very last drops of the tea. "He's just being lazy now. He's totally awake."

She shakes her head and strips the paper off her muffin. "No, let him be. This is nice, isn't it? I like this."

He smiles bright and wide and picks the blueberries out of his own muffin, one by one. "Yeah, me too."

"When he does get up," she says cautiously, "we could go over to MOMA. There's an exhibition I've been wanting to see, if you like art."

He smiles again. "Art, and listening to Gabe complain about art. Sounds awesome."

"Exactly," she says, and they laugh, and it's so nice and familiar she wishes she could capture it for Gabe to replay when he worries.

The first winter she and Gabe were together, Pete sent her a Clandestine hoodie, oversized and fleece-lined and made like armor. She could hide inside it. She could put the hood up and disappear. She wears it at home when Gabe's away, and to walk the dogs in the winter.

Whenever Gabe sees the hoodie in her closet, he smiles the close-lipped shy little smile that's her favorite, and curls his fingers in the fabric like he's touching Pete across the distance. She likes seeing him like that, the softness he gets for Pete, the same one as when Pete texts or they hear Fall Out Boy coming from a set of speakers somewhere out in the city.

She hasn't designed Pete anything yet, because she makes things that expose and underscore, not protect, and she doesn't know him well enough for that yet. She has half a dozen sketches in her notebooks, though. She might have something by his birthday. (All of the sketches are of dresses, clean lines and skirts that hit at the knee, because that's what armor looks like in her hands. When Gabe saw them, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck, breathing against her skin that he loves the way she sees things. Maybe she knows Pete better than she thinks.)

Best to go slowly, and take care.

Pete's resting his chin in his hands, eating the last of his muffin, and lifts his eyes to meet hers just as he licks crumbs off his fingers. He blushes and drops his hands to his lap. "Sorry."

"What? No, please, it's fine."

"You're classy and I'm..."

"Please," she says firmly. She picks up one of his extracted blueberries, draws it back behind her ear, and throws it at his face.

He ducks and laughs, the sound ringing deep and warm through Gabe's cold, pristine apartment. "If we get blueberry all over the carpet, he'll completely freak out, you know."

"I'm sure between the two of us we can figure out how to win his forgiveness."

He smiles and rubs his thumb over the stubble on his chin, and she thinks that this, this man, is someone she could dress. She'll make something for him. "Does it make it weird if I say I kinda wish I'd met you first, Erin?"

"Not weird. But I like this, don't you?"

"I like this a lot." He looks down into his empty teacup, then tucks the muffin wrapper down inside it, so carefully. "I like this better than any of the other things I've ever tried."

"Me, too." She smiles and tilts her head back, catching the bit of morning sun coming through the window, and they sit in comfortable silence, waiting for the shared half of their hearts to come in for the morning.


End file.
